The occurrence of rapid economic and political changes might be traced inside post-era of industrial revolution. These changes have brought impact to the environment wherein emerging industrial progress and remarkable growth of population has acquired essential economic resourcing with regards to the utilization in the ecosystem. Over a other hand, the accompanying trends in the advancement of science and technologies have conquered the law of natural sciences.
The expansion of factories, development of industrial machineries and increasing numbers of vehicles has brought from the looming effect of air pollution as well as other pollutants. Likewise, the exploitative and inefficient utilization of environment depletes the natural habitation of flora and fauna, from which the ecosystem becomes fragile and the forces of Mother Nature asymmetrically collide.
Today, Global Warming is often a potential catastrophe that threatens the earth and all its inhabitants. These kinds of a case depicts the poem in the Founder of Evolutionary Economics, Kenneth Ewart Boulding's (1910-1993), as cited:
"The world is finite, resources are scarce, Things are adverse and is going to be worse, Coal is burned and gas exploded, Forests out and soil eroded, Wells are dry and air polluted, Dust is blowing, trees are uprooted, Oil is going, ores depleted, Drains receive what is excreted, State is sinking, seas are rising, Man is far too enterprising, Fires will rage with man to fan it, Soon we will have a plundered planet" (Boulding,1993; in Edugreen Poems, 2008).
The well being hazard and death toll related to air pollution is extremely alarming; particularly in most extremely populated and highly industrialized countries. Thus, the problem on air pollution is recognized as a crucial sociological, economic and geological issue that's tried to be sensibly addressed by individuals and governments worldwide.
This paper will objectively check the extent and scope of many governmental and non-governmental responses on environmental science and policy difficulties concerning the evolution in the United States’ Clean Air Act, as well as the effects or impacts of its subsequent amendments to the achieving national and global value in enacting policies to mitigate air pollution and on the protection and preservation in the global environment.
Methodology
This paper adopts a three-prong method of study, such as (1) a review of literature relating to the Clean Air Act, (2) discussion of policy difficulties affecting its implementation, and (3) situational analysis to evaluate the national impact.
What is Clean Air Act?
According for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA), the Clean Air Act (CAA) has been amended in 1970 as an ambitious national campaign to hold healthy and top quality air by controlling air pollution.
With the 1970 amendment to CAA, several US-based industries criticized the CAA’s implementation due pricey compliance. To cite, the American companies inside a variety of methods are forced to manage air pollution through end-of-pipe ways that confine pollution and implement preventative measures that limit the amount of pollutants, in which the cost of compliance with Clean Air Act regulations can also be costly (US-EPA, 2008).
However, the Clean Air Act has been enacted to basically reduce air pollution. Based on the report of Corporation Week Magazine (2008), CAA implementation contributes on the decrease of important amounts of air pollutants inside the US at about 30% inside period of 1970 to 1995, in spite from the US’ population growth of 28% of that period.
Literature Review
Brief historical background
The difficulties on air pollution have long been an issue way back inside the time of King Edward I of England in 1306 (American Meteorological Society, 1999). As further cited within the American Meteorological Society (1999), King Edward issued a proclamation banning the use of sea coal in London as a result of the smoke it caused. On the succeeding centuries, Very good Britain continuously pursued the anti-pollution campaign on its very first trial to air pollution controlling in Chicago and Cincinnati during its US occupation, exactly where it legislated the Clean Air Policy of 1881.
After the British-American war, the Clean Air Policy of 1881 was adopted by the united states and enforced by its government agencies, specially the Bureau of Mines with the Department in the Interior which established the Office of Air Pollution. During the 1940’s, the tragedy caused by a “deadly smog” in Los Angeles and Donora, Pennsylvania elevated the alarm of the residents of affected areas which referred to as the us Congress to pass the ‘Air Pollution Manage Act of 1955’, which was the “first clean air and air top quality manage acts” that is certainly nonetheless in effect and being continuously revised and amended (American Meteorological Society, 1999).
Historical amendments to the Clean Air Act as being a nation policy
A timeline on a amendments on the Clean Air Act is herein cited inside the electronic journal from the American Meteorological Society (1999) so that you can fully discuss the historical and chronological basis of its evolution as a state policy, as follows:
In 1955, the local governments’ problems on air pollution has triggered the federal government to address the trouble at a national level in which Congress passed the Air Pollution Manage Act of 1955 due to the “deadly smog tragedy” in Donora, Pennsylvania that accounted the deaths of 20 men and women and hundreds of casualties from airborne diseases.
In 1963, Congress passed the nation's Clean Air Act of 1963 to reduce air pollution by setting emission standards for stationary sources such as power plants and steel mills. It did not take into account cellular sources of air pollution which had grow to be the largest source of many dangerous pollutants.
In 1970, the problem on inadequate laws in enacting the Clean Air Act of 1963 has been amended by the Clean Air Act of 1970 like a major modification which emphasized challenging principles, for instance the establishment of “primary and secondary principles” for setting air quality, minimize emissions from factories and vehicles as to become enacted by the land and federal government, and increased dollars for air pollution research and development. Congress did not amend the Clean Air Act during the 1980’s because of President Reagan's prioritization of economic policies more than environmental actions.
In 1990, the long phase of idleness of the federal government has realized the need to modify the Clean Air Act of 1970. The amendment has enacted the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 that focuses on 5 key areas of implementation, such as (1) air-quality standards, (2) motor vehicle emissions and alternative fuels, (3) toxic air pollutants, (4)
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